norbert blei | the politics of literature

THE POLITICS OF LITERATURE

An Introduction, Confession, Explanation, Claims, Disclaims…and So It Goes…

(Kurt Vonnegut, Thou Shouldst Be Living at This Hour)

I used to deal with politics in various online writings: Blei-Lines, The Mourning News, Word Bites, etc. …but finally let it go. For any writer seriously devoted to crafting fiction, poetry, personal essays, getting into political word-slinging will eventually do you in, eat you alive. Turn you into the very thing you hate.

We all know the other guy’s an idiot, the other side is destroying our constitution, our county…you have the right to do this but not the right to do that and if you don’t think the way I do, you’re the enemy. The word is out, the deck is stacked, the system is in a shambles, the culture is corrupt, nobody’s telling the truth!…someone has to shout: “Fire!”

To get my life back, I had to diminish the sound. Spread the word in other ways,

Continue to mine what it means to be human. THAT path. THAT way. What makes us both idiots and saints in the same body/mind. Re-awaken the spirit as few politicians do. THAT”S what matters.

With the piece on censorship I sent out yesterday (mainly to my e-mail list), I saw an opening in the politics of the present moment where I might “get back into it” occasionally, just a little, by bringing to light situations where politics and literature crossed a certain line. And the fact (fact) that a Mayor in Alaska (who happened to be thrust into the national spotlight as a candidate for the vice presidency of the United States last week) had issues with what should or should not be read in the Mayor’s own city library…well…it needs to be made note of. http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/kilkenny.asp Especially since the mayor isn’t answering any questions—or allowed to answer any questions by party handlers. (Now, that’s a HOT remark…the kind I don’t want to get into as I consider occasionally exploring this new, sub-topic in NOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND: The Politics of Literature.)

We all know the problem with the web is too much freedom. By now, almost anyone who uses the internet has been burned by one story or another that he or she felt was too good to be true and just had to pass on to someone else. Anyone can say just about any damn thing he wants in cyber space. (No different than a number of talk shows.) And frequently does. And you can “Believe it or not!” As Ripley once gave the reader a choice..

Freedom inevitably generates irresponsibility. Take the ‘truth’ of so many political ads on TV. But wait…I’m getting off-topic again.

Okay…a couple of people challenged that reading list I sent out yesterday. http://www.adlerbooks.com/banned.html (I did too). Did such a list exist? (Some of the titles and authors were even misspelled. I corrected them.) Where did the Mayor find the list? Or was it handed to her by someone, some other organization, some religious group?? How was it presented to the City Librarian? Was it?

All valid questions. Yes, it’s an old list. But censorship is an old issue—still fought every day in America. I battled it when I taught high school English. Many communities and schools are still battling it today. (Just Google the word. You’ll find enough to read on the issue from now till the next election.)

My main concern was the fact that a Mayor in America (now running for national office) tried to fire a qualified librarian of the City Library because she refused to remove some books that the Mayor wanted off the shelves.

There are lists and lists of books in America, constantly generated by one group or another that wants to deny any reader his right to read any damn book he pleases. And when any one, including a public official (paid by the taxpayer) says, “No. You are not allowed to read THAT book, my good citizen-American” That’s a problem. And, I would suggest, a really BIG problem for anyone seeking higher office in this country to represent our constitutional rights.

Below, is the original blog sent yesterday…updated with various links. If this is NOT the list, my apologies. If this list is incomplete, my apologies. If the Mayor would finally speak up, answer some questions from the real American public, tell us the truth about this book banning incident (and a few other things)…my applause! —Norbert Blei

P.S. A number of people also wrote asking that I link the original e-mail posting to one of my websites, so they might more easily forward the information. With this posting, that has now been done. AND, there will be further, additional postings to NOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND: THE POLITICS OF LITERATURE, when the spirit (and information) move me. –Norbert Blei

WRITERS, READERS, CITIZENS: YOUR ATTENTION, PLEASE

While Sarah was Mayor of Wasilla she tried to fire our highly respected City Librarian because the Librarian refused to consider removing from the library some books that Sarah wanted removed. City residents rallied to the defense of the City Librarian and against Palin’s attempt at out-and-out censorship, so Palin backed down and withdrew her termination letter. People who fought her attempt to oust the Librarian are on her enemies list to this day. – Anne KilKenny, resident of Alaska

A list of books Sarah Palin attempted to ban in Alaska

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony BurgessA Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’EngleAnnie on My Mind by Nancy GardenAs I Lay Dying by William FaulknerBlubber by Judy BlumeBrave New World by Aldous HuxleyBridge to Terabithia by Katherine PatersonCanterbury Tales by ChaucerCarrie by Stephen KingCatch-22 by Joseph HellerChristine by Stephen KingConfessions by Jean-Jacques RousseauCujo by Stephen KingCurses, Hexes, and Spells by Daniel CohenDaddy’s Roommate by Michael WillhoiteDay No Pigs Would Die by Robert PeckDeath of a Salesman by Arthur MillerDecameron by BoccaccioEast of Eden by John SteinbeckFallen Angels by Walter MyersFanny Hill (Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure) by John ClelandFlowers For Algernon by Daniel KeyesForever by Judy BlumeGrendel by John GardnerHalloween ABC by Eve MerriamHarry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. RowlingHarry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. RowlingHarry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. RowlingHarry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. RowlingHave to Go by Robert MunschHeather Has Two Mommies by Leslea NewmanHow to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas RockwellHuckleberry Finn by Mark TwainI Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya AngelouImpressions edited by Jack BoothIn the Night Kitchen by Maurice SendakIt’s Okay if You Don’t Love Me by Norma KleinJames and the Giant Peach by Roald DahlLady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. LawrenceLeaves of Grass by Walt WhitmanLittle Red Riding Hood by Jacob and Wilhelm GrimmLord of the Flies by William GoldingLove is One of the Choices by Norma KleinLysistrata by AristophanesMore Scary Stories in the Dark by Alvin SchwartzMy Brother Sam Is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher CollierMy House by Nikki GiovanniMy Friend Flicka by Mary O’HaraNight Chills by Dean KoontzOf Mice and Men by John SteinbeckOn My Honor by Marion Dane BauerOne Day in The Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander SolzhenitsynOne Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken KeseyOne Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia MarquezOrdinary People by Judith GuestOur Bodies, Ourselves by Boston Women’s Health CollectivePrince of Tides by Pat ConroyRevolting Rhymes by Ronald DahlScary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones by Alvin SchwartzScary Stories in the Dark by Alvin SchwartzSeparate Peace by John KnowlesSilas Marner by George EliotSlaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice BurroughsThe Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark TwainThe Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark TwainThe Bastard by John JakesThe Catcher in the Rye by J.D. SalingerThe Chocolate War by Robert CormierThe Color Purple by Alice WalkerThe Devil’s Alternative by Frederick ForsythThe Figure in the Shadows by John BellairsThe Grapes of Wrath by John SteinbeckThe Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine PatersonThe Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret AtwoodThe Headless Cupid by Zilpha SnyderThe Learning Tree by Gordon ParksThe Living Bible by William C. BowerThe Merchant of Venice by William ShakespeareThe New Teenage Body Book by Kathy McCoy and Charles WibbelsmanThe Pigman by Paul ZindelThe Seduction of Peter S. by Lawrence SandersThe Shining by Stephen KingThe Witches by Roald DahlThe Witches of Worm by Zilpha SnyderThen Again, Maybe I Won’t by Judy BlumeTo Kill A Mockingbird by Harper LeeTwelfth Night by William ShakespeareWebster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary by the Merriam-Webster Editorial StaffWitches, Pumpkins, and Grinning Ghosts: The Story of the Halloween Symbols by Edna Barth

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3 responses

8092008

radloffpoetree(00:32:06) :

Absolutely disgusting. The titles on this list that I’ve read have damaged me far less than being in public. Surprised that classically banned books like Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller or Naked Lunch by Bill Burroughs weren’t on it. Then again, maybe she’s never heard of them.

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Norbert Blei | 1935 – 2013

On the back roads of Door County again

Norbert Blei – 2012

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Norbert Blei – 2012

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Norbert Blei – 2011

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